Present Tense
by Cassandra Spayke
Summary: What would REALLY happen if Callista came back just prior to Luke's marriage to Mara? Sorry, no catfights here! One shot.


**DISCLAIMER:** You've all read them so: Blah, blah, not making any money, blah blah not my characters, blah blah everything is owned by LucasFilm blah blah some lines (about three) are borrowed from works by Timothy Zahn and Barbara Hambley.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**: This was inspired by various threads on various message boards. While I love evil Callista fics, I tried to stay closer to the character as I saw her. But since Children of the Jedi turned me off SW profic for a long time, I never read Darksaber or Planet of the Twilight and I don't intend to start now. So if I got something wrong, I'm sorry but them's the breaks. :-D

This was written strictly for fun and to work out some ideas running around my head; I have no pretensions that it is high, middle or even low brow lit. Feel free to criticize the work. If you criticize me personally, someone whom you have never met, well that says more about you than it does about me :-D

**AUTHOR'S NOTE 2010:** I had forgotten about this piece and found it when cleaning out my hard drive. I've (hopefully) become a better writer in the intervening nine years. The story itself is not changed, but I've cleaned up grammar and pacing.

**SPOILERS**: Everything up to Vision of the Future, and the first issue of the comic book series Union.

**

* * *

Setting:** Coruscant, between issues one and two of Union.

"That's Jade. She'll be in range in a just few-" The harsh, guttural whisper cut off in mid-sentence.

To hundreds of pedestrians enjoying the temperate Coruscant twilight, the whisper was inaudible.

Mara Jade, however, was not just another human out for a stroll.

She was a Jedi Knight. And her danger sense, part of her gift to touch the Force, had been buzzing at the back of her mind for several minutes. She'd been brushing it off as an overreaction to the stares people gave her when they thought she wasn't looking, a side effect of the recent galaxy-wide announcement of her impending marriage.

But she was a target after all. The whisperer broadcast his thoughts as clearly as if he were an announcer at Lando's beloved blob races. And then someone or something shielded his mind from the Force before she could identify the speaker.

Without breaking stride, Mara surreptitiously scanned the crowd. No one looked suspicious. A mother pulling her reluctant children down the street, a businessman dictating a memo to his droid, a pair of Twi'leks chatting close together, their lekkus almost touching. Across the street three Jawas surrounded a teenage Bimm, offering up second- (or third-) hand clothes. The Bimm's annoyance was palpable, but no other emotions jumped out at her. Except…

Her attention turned to a party of three humans sitting at a nearby Bothan sidewalk café. Two of them were shoveling food into their mouths, yet she could feel an enormous wave of anxiety mixed with anticipation just under the surface. She reached out with a cautious Force probe. Just as she anticipated. Their thoughts were locked tight behind a mental block. The third…she couldn't get a read on the third at all. She must have found the shielder.

She passed the café, head held high as if she didn't have a care in the galaxy. Under her eyelashes she threw a glance at the little group. All three had their heads bent low over their plates. She didn't recognize them from what little she saw of their faces. But under the tablecloth, partially hidden, were two holonet recorders.

_Oh, that's just dandy. Holonet paparazzi_.

She abruptly ducked into the service alley, deserted after the late afternoon delivery rush. Then she stopped, turned and waited, her hand lightly resting on the hilt of a decades' old lightsaber. She didn't have to wait long. The trio from the café sprung to their feet, grabbed their cameras, and pushed past pedestrians in obvious pursuit of their quarry.

She shook her head. If she had still been on the street, their behavior would have tipped her off even if she didn't have a danger sense. Relaxing her stance, she let go of the lightsaber. Paparazzi threatened her privacy, but not her life.

Her chrono chimed a soft alarm, reminding her she had a tight schedule. But hopefully, with luck on her side, she would finish her errands in time to have dinner with her fiancé and his family. Mentally reviewing the myriad tasks she had to accomplish before that could happen, she stepped back onto the street – and her danger sense flared into immediate alert.

The three humans from the café stood in her path. All men – no. One was a tall female, clad in a nondescript baggy jumpsuit and shapeless cloak, her straight up and down figure and androgynous clothing almost but not quite disguising her gender. The delicate wrists and fingers gave it away. She stood to the back, head down and face deeply shadowed by a voluminous hood, letting her male companions create the human blockade in Mara's path.

Mara rolled her eyes at her own stupidity. She'd stopped scanning for emotions, and with their thoughts shielded from her she had been unable to "hear" their return.

"Okay, guys." She threw her hand into the air. "You got me. Take your pictures and let's get this over with."

The first man raised the recorder, and with the guttural voice Mara heard previously said, "Smile."

She ignited her lightsaber only seconds before the weapon concealed inside the recorder spit blaster bolts at her. The bolts bounced off the glowing blue blade and into the wall of the café, leaving deep score marks. The acrid stench of burnt Tatooine stucco filled the air. _Okay, Mara, they're not set for stun. I've got to get this away from the people on the street._

Holding her lightsaber crossways in front, she backed deeper into the alley. Her attackers followed. The first man freed the blaster from its recorder camouflage. Bolt after bolt fired from his weapon. Mara deflected each one, lightsaber busily humming, careful to not to hit the man or his companions. She split her concentration in the Force, seeking the second attacker. But the woman was struggling with him, seeking control of his blaster. Mara gave it a brief mental shrug before turning her full attention back to the man firing at her.

He laughed, ugly and mean, as a blaster bolt bounced over his head. "Missed me again, Imperial whore. Seems only one of us is playing for keeps."

"I wouldn't come any closer if I were you." Her green eyes narrowed.

"Oh yeah? I'll come as close as I want." More bolts zinged-popped toward her. With graceful ease she batted them away. His face contorted with anger. "That's another crowded street right behind you. Don't want innocent people's blood on your hands, now do you? Might ruin that fake squeaky clean image you now have."

"I'm giving you fair warning. You don't want to move closer." Her tone was even.

"Is this how you got Skywalker? You told him to sit still like a good little bantha cub and he listened to you? Not all men are such wimps, sweetie." He took three steps forward. "But I have to say, for an Imperial slut, you're nowhere near as hot as everyone says you are. Skywalker must be blind as well as stupid."

Mara smiled, slowly revealing teeth. "You just keep wanting to move. All right, have it your way." She gave one last mental tug to the duracrete statue perched on the side of the building, several meters above their heads.

Originally built to help drain rain from the building, decades of neglect had left the statue crumbling into disrepair. The blaster bolts Mara had aimed at where it jutted out from the building had done their job. It took only a minimal Force push to bring it crashing down.

She aimed for the space between her and the attacker, intending to create a distraction that would allow an escape into street behind her. But the man made one last frantic lunge at Mara. The statue clipped his arm, smashing his bones into useless pieces. He dropped to the ground, yowling, his blaster forgotten beside him.

"I'm sorry." Mara dropped to her knees and put him into a Force trance. "But I told you not to move. Just be glad I have that squeaky clean image now or it would've landed on your head." A loud thud caught her attention, drawing her gaze down the alley. The woman stood over the prostrate body of the second man, his blaster in her hand. "I hope you didn't kill him," Mara called. "Since you were the one shielding the men's thoughts from me in the first place."

"He is not dead, merely stunned." The voice was low and husky. Mara reached out and confirmed the man's unconscious presence for herself.

"Strange way to treat your companion." Mara took out her comlink to thumb the frequency for emergency services. After being assured that they were on their way, she put the comlink away and began to search her attacker's clothing, looking for identity cards.

Pay dirt was hit in the inner pocket of his well-worn flight jacket. "It figures," she muttered, dropping a membership card for the Pure Sons of the Rebellion into her carry pouch. Then she stood up, brushing the duracrete dust and alley dirt off her jumpsuit.

The woman hadn't moved. Mara strode toward her until they met in the middle of the alley. The woman threw up her head at Mara's approach, but the hood shadowed her eyes and most of her face from Mara's view.

Mara reached out with the Force, but her probe was easily rebuffed. Crossing her arms and leaning against the building that had served her so well, she studied the woman before her. "Mind telling me why you stunned your companion? Especially since you helped them ambush me in the first place."

The woman was silent for a minute, her stance defiant. Then she sighed, deep and resonant. "It wasn't part of the bargain. I really did think they were holonet reporters. I wanted…that is…I tried…" she shook her head. "I'm sorry. Let me start at the beginning. I wanted to find Lu—you," she quickly covered, but Mara caught the slip. "No one would tell me where you live on Coruscant. The men I thought were reporters said they could find you, but they were afraid you'd spot them through the Force. I told them I could handle that part if they could handle theirs." She stopped, and appeared to be searching for words.

"But they weren't reporters." Mara kept her arms crossed.

"No." The woman's shoulders slumped, but only for a moment. "We were supposed to follow you to where you live, that's all. Harming you was not what I wanted." Her voice rang with conviction.

"Right." Mara arched an eyebrow. "You used the Force to shield minds, but you didn't use it to see if they were telling the truth? You couldn't read the aggression pouring off both of them by the bucket?"

Deep inside the hood, pale eyes glittered. "My use of the Force is very limited. I have only just discovered that I can shield my thoughts and those of others. But beyond that, my gift is useless."

"Hmmm." Mara continued her study of the woman.

"What does that mean, Mara Jade?" Anger colored her smoky voice. "I am telling the truth."

"It means why does a Force sensitive, of any gift level, feel the need for such subterfuge? Why not go to Yavin 4? Surely even the most remote Outer Rim planet dweller knows that Luke Skywalker can on occasion be found there."

"But not right before his marriage."

"No," Mara agreed. "It's common knowledge we're currently on Coruscant. So tell me, not that very Force sensitive yet needs to see Luke Skywalker right away, what's the real reason you tracked me – or rather tracked me to find Luke?"

The woman threw back her hood and stood with head held high. "You don't remember me, do you, Mara?"

Mara merely smiled. She had suspected who the woman was long before she started speaking. And now it was confirmed.

When last Mara saw her, the hair had been blonde though the brown roots were easily visible, and it had been cropped close to the skull. Now it was all the color of leaves in winter, and grown to a shoulder-length mane. But the eyes were the same. Those silver gray irises, so disconcerting to see staring out of Dr. Cray Mingla's face. Mara wondered for a brief instant if, had the always immaculately made-up and fashionably dressed Cray been able to see how Callista would treat her body, whether Cray would have given it to the incorporeal woman.

"Of course I remember you, Callista. How are things?"

"Fine. I can touch the Force now."

"So I see. Congratulations."

Callista didn't reply.

Mara unfolded her arms. "Well, if that's all, I have errands I need to run. Emergency services should be here any minute. It's up to you if you want to stay and give a report. I did mine by comlink." She held out her hand. After a short hesitation, the other woman took it. "Be seeing you."

"Wait –" Callista shook her head. "You have to believe me. Please understand…this wasn't the way I thought it would…that is, I didn't want you to be attacked. I just wanted to know where…." Her voice trailed off.

"Don't worry about it. After all, you did help to fight them off. And I'm used to being attacked for no real reason, although," a predatory gleam lit Mara's gaze, "they are usually verbal, not physical."

She pulled out the Pure Sons of the Rebellion membership card and passed it to Callista. "Some people see me as a symbol for what is wrong in the universe today. But it's only their own shortcomings that make them mad. Take this man. He's convinced Luke is betraying the ideals of the Rebellion. He believes that if he gets rid of me, it will fix everything he thinks the New Republic has done wrong since Endor."

"What makes you say that?" Callista turned the card over and over in her hand.

"Once you stopped shielding him, his thoughts were very easy to pick up. But then, groups like this attract weak-minded souls who focus on the ills rather than the positives. I'm sure he would never come up with such a plan on his own. Others must have encouraged him until he could see nothing but hate. But that's a failing in his life, not mine or Luke's."

She took the card back from Callista and gave her a wry smile. "I've never worried about what people think of me and I refuse to start now. Some people want me to publicly wring my hands for every slight, implied or otherwise, but they're just going to keep wanting."

"But you were the Emperor's Hand," Callista said softly.

"And I've never denied it. I've never run from it," Mara shot back. She took a deep breath and exhaled. "I've apologized to those I have wronged. I have remorse I will always carry. But I refuse now to let the past dictate the present, much less the future. I lived like that for fifteen years, and it cost me, heavily. No more." She looked Callista squarely in the eye. "You might want to think about adopting a similar philosophy."

Callista nodded, but didn't take her gaze away from Mara's. Gray battled green until with a shrug Mara checked her chrono. At seeing the time she stifled a groan. "I'm late to meet the dressmaker and Threepio will have a fit. One does not know torture until a protocol droid whines at you about fashion. I have to go." She turned to leave the alley.

"Mara…?" The question in Callista's voice was apparent.

Mara didn't look back or break stride. "He's with Tionne, Kam and Corran at the Jedi Temple ruins. Have fun." She raised a hand in farewell. Then she got out her comlink and quickly made the connection to Jari'kyn's atelier. "I'm on my way, I was unavoidably detained…tell him that if he continues you will wipe his memory...well, it works for Han…Did you try shutting him down…I'm so sorry, I'll be there as fast as I can."

* * *

Luke Skywalker walked around the edges of the Jedi Temple ruins. Bas-reliefs of Jedi lore, much of it long forgotten, were carved on stone walls that reached high into the navy blue velvet sky. Overhead, a few hardy stars were making a valiant effort to be seen despite the obscuring light from Coruscant's endless buildings.

He couldn't think of another place on this planet that gave him so much peace, and he stayed behind to enjoy the atmosphere after his meeting with Kam, Tionne and Corran concluded. He paused to touch one of the carvings, a male alien whose race he didn't recognize. Calm courage filled the stone face. Yet Luke had no idea who the man was nor what he had meant to the Jedi order. He wondered, not for the first time, if he would ever be able to restore the knowledge so viciously destroyed all those years ago.

There was a time when he would have brooded on all that was lost, questioning his ability to build a new Jedi order with so little guidance from those that had gone before. It caused him to go on quixotic journeys across the galaxy, often returning with more questions than he had before he left, and few satisfying answers. He tried so hard to be all things to his students, only to forget that he had to be true to himself before he could teach others to be the same. But he didn't regret his past choices. They helped make him into the man he was today, and to deny the path he took in the past would be to deny his inner core. Mara helped him see that, when he would shunned his earlier mistakes. The Force, after all, was known to work in mysterious ways.

Still, it would be nice to have more concrete information about the Jedi of old. For example, the bonding ceremony he and Mara were to share in just a few days' time. The existing records were ambiguous about whether Jedi formed lifetime romantic attachments. He, Mara, Kam and Tionne, with Corran's help, had managed to cobble together a ceremony that drew on what they knew of the old, while adding elements they hoped would become traditions for the future.

But they were guessing, really. No one knew for sure…well, no one but Callista. She had been a Jedi Knight before the purge. She would know what was correct, and what was forbidden. But he had no way to reach her and, Luke gave a short laugh, it was probably not something she would want to be consulted on anyway.

Footsteps echoed on the stone pathway inside the inner courtyard. "I'm outside the main chamber," Luke called. "What's the matter, Tionne, forget your list of supplies for the ceremony?" But the words were no sooner out of his mouth than Luke realized that it wasn't Tionne, nor was it Kam or Corran. The Force signature of his visitor was at once strangely familiar yet intimately unknown. He realized who it was just as she stepped through the massive door arch.

"Callista. I was just thinking of you."

She stopped at his words and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "Hello, Luke. That's a nice greeting."

"You can touch the Force now. When did that happen?" Luke said the words automatically. He was more concerned ensuring she wasn't a figment of his imagination, conjured up by his recent thoughts. Absently, he reached out to finger her cloak, a rich tapestry depicting the sea life of Chad. Leia had a similar one, a gift from Han after a particularly violent Senate session left her trembling with anger and exhaustion. He briefly wondered why, if Callista was a projection of his mind, he was dressing her in his sister's clothes.

Callista stepped forward and put her hand to his cheek. "Are you having trouble believing that it is really me?" she asked, a note of amusement in her smoky voice. "Feel. I'm real. And yes, I can touch the Force. I just discovered it about two standard weeks ago. One of your Jedi students came to help with a food crisis in a city near my village on Chad. I was…curious…and went to see him. He immediately recognized that I was shielding; I had no idea, having no contact with other Force sensitives. I can also shield the thoughts of others. But so far, that's all I've found I can do."

Luke took her hand from his face and held it between his palms. "But to touch the Force at all is a wonderful gift, Callista. Especially for you. You must come to the Academy and see if more can be discovered."

Callista smiled with sweet, bright light. "I was hoping you would say that."

Luke smiled back. "Of course. You have always been welcome there."

She nodded, slowly. "Thank you for saying that. But...I wasn't sure if you would welcome me now."

"Why not?"

"Well, because…just because." With her free hand, she smoothed an imaginary wrinkle from the deep red fabric of her form-fitting dress.

Luke reached out, but Callista had her thoughts well-shielded. But it didn't take a Force probe to understand her hesitation. "Because of my marriage."

She looked up, an unreadable expression in her eyes. "Yes."

"Callista, I…I don't know what to say other than the doors of the Academy will always be open to you." He dropped her hand to run one of his through his hair.

"The doors of the Academy, or yours in particular?" Her voice, already low, dropped another octave.

"Callista..." Luke searched for words. He still had trouble believing she was standing before him, real, not a memory or a spirit or a ghost in a machine. He blinked his eyes once, twice, to clear his vision. "I...everyone...the entire Academy will do what they can."

"So I am not welcome after all."

"That's not what I said."

"But that's what you mean. I've been without the Force for seven years, Luke, I've learned how to compensate by reading body language."

He felt run over by a landspeeder, as he usually did when talking to most women about emotions. _It's so much easier to use a Force probe and just read what they are thinking_. "Callista, can we start over? Hi. It's good to see you again. How have you been?"

She laughed, that same smoky yet innocent laugh that he first heard echoing through the halls of the_ Eye of Palpatine_. "I'm sorry. I've played this scene in my head so many times, I'm afraid I'm making sure that you say the lines I've written for you. I'm doing well, thanks for asking. I eventually went home to Chad where I badly spooked a cousin by being younger than her grandchild. I teach the children of the village when I am not working to improve the local communications system. And you?"

"I'm…good. Obviously you've heard the latest news."

"I think the whole galaxy has."

"Yes, well, not our first choice but Leia convinced us it was the right thing to do."

"So how is Leia?"

"She's great. She's overjoyed at the truce with the Imperial Remnant."

"That's wonderful." She smiled at him.

Luke smiled back.

Silence filled the air.

Luke cleared his throat, opened his mouth, and closed it.

He shifted from foot to foot.

Finally Callista spoke. "We tried it your way, now I want to go back to the earlier conversation. How can I be welcome at the Academy? Now of all times?"

Luke started. He could sense he was adrift in very dangerous waters. _Blast it, Callista, stop shielding!_ Hesitantly he said, "What do you mean?"

Callista shook her head in disbelief at his question. "I mean...Luke, I need your help but you and I...in the same place...it would be too painful. Wouldn't it?" She looked up at him, her eyes the gray of rain clouds.

He crossed his arms. "Painful for you or painful for me?"

"For both of us." Her direct stare dared him to deny her words.

Painful, Luke thought. Well, it would have been painful six years ago. Maybe even five. But now? His life had moved on. He wasn't the same person. He had learned so much, seen so much since then. The memory of their time together would always be a bittersweet one. But he felt no pain at seeing her now, only a sense of relief that she was alive and well. The lack of closure in their relationship had always bothered him, and he was grateful to know that she had survived the last seven years. Hearing about her new ability in the Force was an added bonus.

The small burden of guilt that always attacked him whenever Callista crossed his mind was set free to die a quick death.

"So, let me get this straight," Luke said, mentally grinning at hearing the no-nonsense influence of Mara in his tone, "You want to learn more about the Force, yet you don't want to go the Academy because it would be too painful? So why seek me out, Callista? Why not just continue to stay hidden and out of touch as you have been for years?"

"Because…because I have the Force back. Not all of it, nowhere near my previous gift, but I have it. And I always thought…I was sure…that when this day came, you would be there for me. And that day is now." She reached a hand out to him.

He took it and pressed it between both of his. "Callista, I promise, I will give you any help necessary to regain your former Force skills. I tried to help seven years ago, I will do it now."

"So…you will..." she breathed, her chest rising and falling rapidly. "Oh Luke, I'll make sure you won't regret it. But what about Mara?"

"Mara? Callista, what do you mean?" Not only was he still adrift in dangerous waters, now angry predators were circling. He touched on his Force bond with Mara, only to get a brief flash of "You're on your own, Skywalker," and the mental equivalent of a comlink disconnection.

"Luke…I know I did the wrong thing by leaving you. I should have trusted you when you said you loved me, not the Force in me. I keep replaying in my mind the moment you told me that you wanted us to be together forever, if we could manage it. I am so sorry that I let you down, that I didn't have enough faith. But I had to leave, for my own peace of mind. It was the right thing to do at the time."

She curled her fingers around his hand and squeezed tightly. "But don't you see? My getting the Force back now, just as you are about to marry someone else, has to be some sort of sign, some sort of prodding that we really are meant to be together. And I had to tell you, so you could see it, too." She turned her face up to his, her silver eyes wide and imploring, her red lips moist and softly parted, and Luke remembered what it was like to wake up with her breath warm on his cheek and her slender body relaxed against his.

Then he remembered her emotional distance after they pulled her from the escape pod and she discovered that she had lost the Force, and how she blamed him for it. He remembered that nothing he did for her was ever enough to prove that their love was stronger than the loss of her gift. And he remembered how, after a year of searching for her, she had been on the same planet as him - had even spent time with Leia - yet refused to see him. He pulled his hand from hers.

"Callista, I am truly happy that you can touch the Force once more. I will do all I can to help you. But…if you are here to pick up from where we left off seven years ago…it's just not possible."

She stared at him for a moment, then shook her head with a brief laugh. "Oh, I messed this up, too. I thought it had to be as apparent to you as it is to me that this is the will of the Force. Otherwise, I would never have come." Her gaze fell to the ground. "But I guess, deep down, I didn't expect any other reaction. Mara must really be…something."

"She is. But Callista," Luke took her chin in his right hand and made her look at him, "even if Mara wasn't in my life, you and I couldn't be together. Not in that way. Not now. We had our chance, but it wasn't enough for you. Maybe I'm to blame for that. Mara thinks I was under a Dark Side influence at the time, and it colored my actions. Who knows? But you wouldn't even talk to me one last time."

"It hurt too much, Luke! And I didn't want to hurt you." She twisted out of his grasp.

"But I want someone who can talk to me when she is hurt, even when she thinks what she has to say will hurt me. I need someone who isn't afraid to be honest, who will share the good and the bad."

"I wasn't afraid…" she cupped her hands over her face for a moment, then took them down. "All right, maybe I was. But that doesn't mean I would be now."

"So find someone with whom you won't be afraid, Callista. Let go of the past."

"Funny, your betrothed said almost the same thing earlier today."

Luke raised an eyebrow, but decided to let it pass. "She can be a wise woman."

They stood in silence until Callista took a deep breath and looked around her "Look at this place. It's so different than I remember. So much…damage and waste. Such a terrible disregard for such an age-old tradition." She traced a carving with her finger.

Luke nodded in agreement. "But we are trying to use what we find here to rebuild."

She turned to look at him. "Speaking of rebuilding…Am I still welcome at the Academy?"

"Of course." Luke grinned. "Anytime. No need to call ahead first and see if Mara and I are there."

"But you'll understand if I do make that call."

"I suppose so. But I hope you won't feel the need to avoid us."

"We'll see." She held out her hand to be shaken but Luke gave into his impulse and pulled her into a strong hug, wrapping her tight against him.

"Be well, Callista. Be happy. That's all I've ever wanted for you." He released her with a smile.

She nodded and brushed her lips against his cheek. "You, too. I hope Mara will make you very happy." She turned to leave but stopped in the doorway to give Luke a brief wave, her posture straight and tall.

And for the first time that day Luke saw the woman he met on the _Eye of Palpatine_. Not the Cray/Callista hybrid that came out of the escape pod, but the real Callista, the one who sacrificed herself to stop a murderous intelligence. It was about time she returned to the galaxy. Perhaps now she could find the life that so far she had denied herself. "May the Force be with you, Callista."

"And with you, Luke." With that, she was gone.

It wasn't until he was at dinner with Leia and her family over an hour later that Luke realized he never asked Callista about the carved man, much less about Jedi marriage traditions.

* * *

"Can I mindwipe Threepio? Not the whole memory, of course. It wouldn't be dinner at the Solos without him reenacting the Battle of the Death Star for the umpteenth time. Just the portion where he thinks he's in charge of my wedding dress?" Mara kicked off her boots and settled onto the couch beside Luke, curling her legs beneath her.

Luke peered over the datapad he was reading. With Ganner Rhysode and Wurth Skidder in charge of the Academy in Tionne and Kam's absence, the number of injuries among the younger students had drastically increased. Luke suspected that they were over-training the students in combat skills, and decided to have a long conversation with each Knight about the Force and the use of physical aggression. "Long day at the dressmaker's, dear?"

"Is there any day that isn't made longer when Threepio is around?" She sighed and leaned her head on the back of the couch. Luke reached out and squeezed her shoulder in sympathy. "Ow, a little less hard," she murmured, eyes closed.

"Less hard? Mara, I barely touched you. What's wrong with your shoulder?"

"Huh?" One green eye briefly opened. "Oh, that. Got into a little bit of trouble on my way to Jari'kyn's."

"Trouble?"

"You know, the stuff that always finds me and that you always find." She kept her eyes closed but a smile spread its way across her face.

He put down his datapad and turned to face her. "Spill it, Jade."

She sighed. "Luke, it's not a big deal."

"Do I get to judge for myself?"

"Fine. Two men posing as holonet reporters tried to kill me, I didn't kill them, emergency services picked them up. I'm tired. Want to go to bed?"

"Mara…"

She struggled upright and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "It was nothing. Just more of the usual. This time the battle slogan was 'Imperial Witch must die for seducing Hero of the Rebellion.' When are the Imps going to get upset because a former member of the Imperial Court is marrying a dirty rebel?" Her tone was light. To anyone else Mara would come off as unaffected by the propaganda slung at her. But he knew just how deep her emotions ran.

He brushed a strand of red-gold hair out of her eyes. "So if it was nothing, why does your shoulder hurt? And," he couldn't keep the concern out of his voice, "just how did they manage to get the drop on you in the first place?"

"My shoulder hurts because with all this wedding fuss, neither of us has had enough lightsaber practice and I'm a bit out of shape. As for the second question…," he caught the flicker in her emerald gaze, "someone shielded the attackers' thoughts from me. But it really was nothing, Luke. If it had been, you know I would've alerted you. And I'm exhausted. Let's go to bed." She stood up and tried to pull him up with her.

He refused to move. "So when are you planning on asking me about Callista?"

"Are you in my head, Skywalker? Get out of it." But she sat down next to him.

"So?" he said. "When are you planning on asking me?"

She shook her head, laughing. "You're impossible. If you must know, I was planning on asking you later, when you're much more, um, relaxed. But if you want to talk now without the fun part first, go right ahead."

"So you're not worried, or jealous?" He couldn't resist playing with the lock of hair curling around her earlobe.

Her gaze narrowed. "Should I be?"

He smiled. "I think you know the answer to that."

She smiled back and laced her fingers with his. "Yes, I think I do. So…what did happen?"

"Do you mind if I go first? Was Callista actually trying to kill you?" He was incredulous. The woman he spoke to at the Temple seemed above that kind of thing.

"No. In fact, she fought one of the attackers for me. It was a case of mistaken identity. Still, I wish she hadn't shielded them. Would have made it easier for me and less painful for them. Now it's my turn. So…?"

"We talked."

"I just bet you did. She wants you back, doesn't she?"

"What makes you think that?" He tried to look as innocent as possible.

"Oh, please. Even you can't pull off that look. Besides, the frantic 'help me' you sent earlier was a bit of a clue. So?"

"She thought that since she got the Force back just as the wedding was announced, it was a sign that she was meant to return to me."

"And you think there's some truth to it, don't you?" Her smile remained on her face, but he felt the sudden chill cut across their bond. He pulled her closer to him.

"Not in that way. But yes, there may be something there."

"A prodding of the Force?"

"Something like that. It was just too convenient to be anything else – I was thinking of her and there she was, as if my thoughts had made her real."

"What were you thinking?" She yawned, closing her eyes and tucking her head into the crook between his neck and shoulder. She really was tired. He didn't need the bond to sense it.

"So much has been lost, and no one is still alive to tell us about Old Republic Jedi traditions except her. I was looking at a figure carved on the temple wall, wondering what he meant to the Order. And that's when she showed up."

"So did you ask her?"

Luke smiled. Even half-asleep, Mara asked the practical questions. "No. I forgot."

"Mmmm."

"Mara?"

No response came.

He gently pulled his arm out from under her and resettled her head on the sofa, intending to pick her up and put her to bed, when she began to speak. "Maybe that's the answer. Maybe she was sent to you so you would have an opportunity to learn about the past. Since you didn't feel compelled to take it, maybe that is what the Force is telling you: remember there is a past, but don't let it keep you from living in the present and building a future."

"You think so?"

"You're the Jedi Master, you figure it out. But it's one point of view."

He kissed her on the forehead. "I'm taking you up on your offer of bed. Are you coming or do I need to carry you?"

She laughed. "Hang on a minute until my legs obey me, and I'll come with you."


End file.
